Archive for the ‘assassinatos’ Category

Well, it happened again. Another black man was killed because of perception and prejudgement. New York police-officer Omar J. Edwards was killed after he chased another man who he saw break into his car. After a brief struggle, the thief escaped from Edwards and began to run. Edwards pulled out his gun and pursued the man. Another policeman, riding in a car with other policemen, saw Edwards and fired six shots, killing Edwards. Edwards was not dressed in his police uniform when he was killed. The officer who killed Edwards was white. Edward’s death is another in a series of murders of black men, including those of Sean Bell in New York and Oscar Grant in Oakland, California.

The November 25th (2006) murder of Sean Bell by the New York Police Department was just another incident in a long line of injustices experienced by the black community in cases involving the police. Bell was to be married only hours after he was killed in a hail of 50 bullets fired at him by police officers who believed he and his two friends were armed. The weapons they were supposedly carrying were never found by the police. Bell’s friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield were also wounded during the assault. This case reminds many of the violent murder of Amadou Diallo, the West African immigrant who was killed after being shot at 41 times by the NYPD in 1999. The police officers in that case were all acquitted.

In a country where blacks and whites have had a very strenuous history and black men are consistently victims of police abuse and homicide, race is again a factor in how this case will be judged. In this particular situation, I cannot say with any certainty that the officer that shot and killed Edwards was absolutely wrong. Without having seen the incident from the beginning, how would any police officer react in that scenario? Two men running, one man chasing the other with a gun. What would anyone think?

I would like to say that race had nothing to do with this particular scenario but I can’t be absolutely sure. The question is, if the two men running were both white, how would the officer who killed Edwards have reacted? Is there a possibility that he would not have immediately decided to fire shots? Raqiyah Mays, host of a radio station in New York notes the difference of perception when two men, one black and the other white, are doing the same thing. “How many times have you seen a black man running down the street and thought something negative? As opposed to seeing a white guy running down the street and you think he’s running late?”

This is also true in Brazil where there is a popular saying about this exact situation: “A white man running is an athlete, a black man running is a thief” (“Branco correndo é atleta preto correndo é ladrão”).

Research has shown that whites tend to react different in scenarios when someone is black than when someone is white. And although I cannot immediately label this a racist incident, there is still a necessity of accessing the image of black men and women in the imagination of any society in which blacks and whites live together.

Although Western societies continue to deny it, non-whites, particularly blacks, are still viewed as “the other”. A threat. Different. Dangerous. The legendary Frantz Fanon captured this sentiment perfectly. While studying psychiatry in Lyons, France, one day a white child noticed Fanon and said, “Look mommy, a negro! I’m scared!” This fear of the black man has humiliated millions of innocent people throughout the world. The Western world depiction of blacks has been the cause of humiliation, disrespect and even death for millions of African descendants throughout the world. It’s sad, but the death of Edwards because of a misperception is nothing new. And while the violent police murders of African-American men always seems to be in the news, the police assassinations of Afro-Brazilian men is a silent genocide that the international press has seemingly ignored.

Between the years 1995 and 1998, 517 African-Americans were killed by the entire American police department. That represents 35% of the 1,478 justifiable homicides committed by the police. African-Americans represent 13% of the US population. After evaluating more than 1,000 homicides committed by police in one city, Rio de Janeiro, between the years 1993 and 1996, reports show that 70% of victims were Afro-Brazilians. In 1999, 85% of victims of murders committed by police or the death squads in Brazil were Afro-Brazilians. At the time, Afro-Brazilians represented 45% of the population.

In an example of the cruelty and disregard for black life in Brazil, in June of 2008, the bodies of three black men, Wellington Gonzaga da Costa, Marcos Paulo Correia and David Wilson Florêncio were found in the trash in Rio de Janeiro. The police had stopped and frisked the men who were suspected of being drug dealers and carrying weapons. The search only produced one cell phone. 46 shots were fired at the men, the majority of them in the head. Da Silva’s arm had been cut off and Ferreira’s hands had been tied together before he was executed. The execution of young black men is very common in Brazil.

After evaluating more than 1,000 police homicides committed by police in one city, Rio de Janeiro, between the years 1993 and 1996, reports show that 70% of the murder victims were Afro-Brazilian. By the year 1999, 85% of the victims of murders committed by the police or death squads in Brazil were Afro-Brazilian. At the time, Afro-Brazilians represented about 45% of the Brazilian population. Although many Brazilians automatically accuse the United States of being the true racist country, elites in Brazil have always dreamt of Brazil being accepted as a white country, which can only happen through the elimination of the huge Afro-Brazilian population. The murders of Omar J. Edwards, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Wellington Gonzaga da Costa, Marcos Paulo Correia and David Wilson Florêncio demonstrates yet another thing that Brazil and America have in common: a disregard for black life.

*This is the title of a book by Afro-Brazilian author, Ana Flauzina, about the genocide against the Afro-Brazilian population perpetuated by the Brazilian state.